Keeping Literacy Alive Through Book Clubs

One of my favorite things I’m part of in my school is our Project LIT Community chapter. Our book club meets the last Friday of every month, during school, to discuss our diverse books of the month and work towards our community service project. Some months our group is large, and other months our group is small but mighty.

We’ve been meeting for a couple of years now, and it has had a tremendous impact on our students who participate. This year, our school is open for brick-and-mortar learning five days a week, and we also have students who do eLearning. It’s been quite the challenge to figure out how to serve our in-person students safely and to serve our eLearners well. 

Literacy is critical, and making sure students are (regularly) reading relevant texts that are as diverse as our student bodies is really what makes the difference. In an era where we desperately need to engage our students and help them connect, we cannot continue to teach and offer the same old books that our kids can’t see themselves in. Project LIT allows classroom teachers access to incredible titles and lesson opportunities. It allows students ways to learn the important skills while seeing themselves in a text. It allows deep discussions in book club and in class while building an amazing community of students who are willing to talk about important things. 

With the current situation, how do we make sure this continues? How do we keep our book clubs active and alive? How do we engage our readers?

At Southwest Middle School, we are looking at what was most valuable from years past and what really needed to be improved, and building a plan from there.

Improvement #1 – Time
This year we have the amazing opportunity to have two classes of Advanced Reading – students who took a reading elective because they wanted to. We are using those two classes as Project LIT classes, and our club will meet during their class time. We can utilize our very large library to get our in-person students together in a socially distant and safe way. Our eLearners use Zoom to participate.

Improvement #2 – Communication
We have a Google Classroom where we communicate with our Project LIT students. We have expanded this as a place where our students can do virtual book tastings of the titles offered and a place to decide which books we will read each month. Our Zoom code is posted there for our students who want to participate virtually.

Improvement #3 – Building Background Knowledge     
One of the things we just didn’t really do well in years past was help the students really know what each book was about. We just didn’t have the time with short classes on an early-release day. This year we decided we had to do better. I spent a lot of time building a single resource for our students using Google Slides. Each slide gives students an access point to learn more about the book through a book trailer or book talk. I took what I learned while building our virtual library and applied it to the resource for our Google Classroom. 

Each slide is personalized for each book and includes a YA sticker on the books that are for more mature readers. This lets our students know at a glance if a book is too mature for them. The copy of the book posted in the “room” is linked to Follett Destiny® Library Manager. This easily gives students access to the book to read the summary and then check it out or put it on hold if they want to read it. Below are some examples I created for our Google Classroom. 

Improvement #4 – Accessibility of Books 
The next issue we needed to look at is how to get the books to students. We can check out print books to in-person students and eLearners. We also have an extensive library of eBooks and audiobooks that our students have access to. Other options include using the read-alouds that many of the authors have on their YouTube or Instagram pages. Some Project LIT chapter leaders have been using articles, podcasts or  poetry that accomplishes the same goal of the Project LIT titles. They share these with their students virtually until they can get books in the hands of their students. There really are a lot of options for keeping our students engaged in meaningful discussions right now through the power of books and writing. We just may need to dig a little for them.

You can find all the Project LIT recommendations for middle school and high school on Titlewave^®. Simply log in to your free account and search for the book title. You will see all available formats the book is in: eBook, print, or digital audiobook. Don’t have a Titlewave account? It’s free! You can sign up today. Once you do, you’ll have access to thousands of free discussion guides by book, reading levels, professional reviews and educator-created book lists.

Need some resources? Check these out:

• Jarred Amato, founder of Project LIT, has some amazing resources for teachers on his website.
• School Library Journal has this really great article on how to run a virtual book club for middle school students.
• Here is a great blog post on running a book club through Google Classroom.
Shannon McClintock Miller has some really great tips and tricks on running a virtual book club. She also has some great ways she’s providing book access to students during this time.

Whether your school participates in Project LIT, runs a book club for your state awards list books, or does another kind of book club, don’t lose hope. There is a way to continue this awesome thing you are doing. 

Carrie Friday
Media Specialist
Southwest Middle School
Palm Bay, Florida

Carrie Friday is the Media Specialist at Southwest Middle School in Palm Bay, Florida, and a 2018-2019 Teacher of the Year Finalist for Brevard Public Schools. She isn't afraid to take risks and will do just about anything to encourage the love of literacy in students and teachers. She is one of the co-founders of the #swms20bookchallenge and a total YA author fangirl. She is a chapter leader of her school’s Project LIT Community chapter, a committee member for the Florida SSYRA 6-8 selection committee and on the FAME Nominations committee. She believes in innovation, collaboration and the power of really good books.

She is also a wife to a rocket scientist and a mom to the sweetest two girls you'll ever meet. She loves Gilmore Girls, Pinterest, coffee and porch swings. She is a proud graduate of Auburn University. War Eagle!

You can reach her through email at friday.carrie@brevardschools.org or on Twitter at @CarrieFriday. Follow along with her adventures in the Media Center at alwaysfridaylibrary.blogspot.com.